Inhabitants of Pont-Aven are calledPontavenistes in French. Pont-Aven absorbed the former commune of Nizon in 1954, which had a population of 1,837 at the time.[3]
Pont-Aven is mainly known because of the group of artists who flocked roundÉmile Bernard andPaul Gauguin, and who were joined in 1888 byPaul Sérusier. They were collectively known as "Pont-Aven School" (French:École de Pont-Aven, Breton:Skol Pont-Aven).
Pont Aven School of Contemporary Art (PASCA) is an international fine arts program located in the historic artists' colony of Pont-Aven (Brittany, France). The student body is made up of third-year university or art college honors students or post-baccalaureate art majors (fourth/fifth-year) seeking further study.
The riverAven runs through Pont-Aven. The river has relatively favourable water quality, with pH levels slightly alkaline at about 8.5 and electrical conductivity of 19 micro Siemens per centimetre.[6]
The town is at the interface of the tidal estuary and the freshwater river.
Before Pont-Aven attractedGauguin and other artists it was a centre for milling with the river Aven being divided above the town to provide a mill race which powers a series of water mills. Whilst several of these retain their wheels only the last, the Moulin Poulguin, is still capable of operating. The mill is now a restaurant and you can see the machinery inside.
Just outside the town are the beech woods of the Bois d'Amour, a source of inspiration for many artists. The town is close to Domaine de Kerlann Holiday Park on the road to the adjoining commune of Nevez. To the northwest of the town, in the small community of Nizon, the ruins ofChâteau de Rustéphan are to be found. Nizon was more famous than Pont-Aven at the 19th century but the painters made it well known.
Les Galettes de Pont-Aven is a 1975 drama on the life of a middle-aged aspirant painter who settles in the town.
Pont-Aven is the setting forDeath in Brittany (2012), the first book in the series of Commissaire Dupin detective novels by Jean-Luc Bannalec (Jörg Bong).
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